As my project utilizes a different method of user navigation it's important that the user can receive instant feedback when they interact with an unknown navigation device or method. For example a user can very quickly understand how to use a device such as a mouse as the movement of the mouse cursor on the screen reacts immediately to the movement of the physical device. The mouse cursor moves in the same direction as the mouse therefore there isn't a very high level of difficulty involved in the use of the device and before long be used intuitively.
My project utilizes a navigation method which involves the movement of trackable objects. The objects would be tracked using a webcam and the object's positions would be represented on the digital display instantly. The user would know relatively soon after interacting with the objects that there positions are significant in the decryption of the puzzle due the visual feedback being provided by the sketches display.
I'm hoping that the this navigation method could be used intuitively much like a mouse however the tests so far undertaken by me, suggest that the webcam isn't 100% reliable when tracking the objects positions therefore resulting in a navigation method which isn't as immersive or intuitive as a mouse.
I added additional trackable objects into the sketch which resulted in a total of five levels of encryption for my sketch which greatly increased the difficultly and complexity of the sketch.
Problem 2: Display is static and unattractive
Design Solution:
The static background image was replaced with a dynamic video file consisting of visual effects which made the sketch visually more attractive. There's a also a separate background for each level of encryption.
Problem 3: Display lacks visual feedback for the user
Design Solution:
Originally the only visual feedback the user would receive would be the colour change of the lines drawn between the object's location. The sketch now utilizes a padlock system which gives the user visual feedback on what part of the puzzle is complete and what part is not.
Problem 4: Webcam light in Shoebox contraption generates too much glare
Design Solution:
Implement a separate light into the shoebox contraption which has less intense glare
Problem 5: Mac Mini in foyer space only has one USB slot, shoebox contraption requires two USB slots (Light & Camera)
Design Solution:
Use a USB 2.0 Splitter & USB 2.0 Extension cable.
Problem 5: Permanent smudges and glue residue on reflective acrylic surface
Design Solution:
Clean surface with WB40 to minimize the affected area.
My public display is a basically a puzzle and the puzzle is made of 5 levels of encryption. Each of these"levels" has a unique background which becomes less and less distorted as the user progresses, the reason I implemented these into my sketch is so that they serve as a visual representation of that the user is progressing. This will hopefully result in the user wanting to finish the puzzle as I believe if there wasn't visual representation of progression a user might get confused or frustrated with the display
Here are the videos for each of the levels in my sketch.
Layer 1 (Start):
This is the first background the user will see and it's the most distorted out of all the backgrounds as it utilizes various distortion techniques such warping and blurring .
Layer 2:
This background will appear once the user unlocks the first padlock, it's still heavily distorted however some of the motion effects used in the first background have been removed therefore it's visually clear that the user is progressing as there's evidence that the encryption is degrading.
Layer 3:
Layer 3 of the sketch removes an overlaying cloud effect which was utilized in the previous background which greatly increases the visual clarity of the sketch for the user. This layer serves as the mid point in the sketch so the user can visually see that they have greatly progressed since the start however it's evident that there's still work to do.
Layer 4:
Layer 4 removes all of distortion effects which hid the background previously however the image of a "safe" represents a "barrier" therefore the user would understand that there's at least one more layer to this puzzle before it's completely encrypted
Layer 5 (Final):
This is the final stage of the puzzle and congratulates the user on completing the puzzle. All of the padlocks must be unlocked to enable this background to show.
After I had completed the shoebox contraption I then went about testing it with my processing sketch. I placed the trackable cubes on the top of the contraption to see how quickly it identified the objects. It turns out the webcam has a build in zoom which resulted in the webcam not being able to track objects which are near the edges of the window frame. This meant the optimal place to put the objects was towards the middle of the frame.
The objects weren't detected by the webcam as quickly I would of hoped and there certain spaces where the glare off the glass base is too intense that the webcam cant see the trackable tag.
During a long period of testing I was able to complete four of the five encryptions on my sketch however due to the glare issue I was unable to generate the required distance to complete the final encryption.
My next task is to try and solve this glare issue with the light as this glare is restricting the amount of space on the frame therefore making it almost impossible to complete the encyption puzzles with the current distance values. Failure to solve the glare issue would result in me needing to change the distance values in the sketch as I need to test my project in the foyer space sometime this week.
I believe my public display project has progressed massively in the last week and half. I think my sketch will be interesting and challenging for most of the people who interact with it as I think I've programmed it so that the sketch becomes more difficult as you progress. One worry I do have with my project is it's reliability, the project is very dependant on the webcam constantly tracking the objects.
As I'm currently in the process of building the "shoebox" contraption which will serve as the base for the trackable objects when I test it in the space, I'm unable to predict how well this shoebox design will function. However through testing using the "Trackmate Simulator" if the trackable objects fail to function correctly this would likely frustrate the user and would need to be improved in further iterations.
The way my project has developed since the start is that my project has become more and more dynamic throughout iterations. At the start the primary focus was the functionality of the project so as the project began to function as specified in the pseudo code it enabled me to focus on the graphical presentation of the project.
I believe the programming for my project is almost done therefore enabling me to work on the "Shoebox" contraption for the remainder of the time until the deadline.
I have updated the background for my sketch from a static image background and changed it into a dynamic video background. The video was made in Adobe After Effects enabling me to apply effects which distort the background image in a dynamic way. This dynamic distortion fits the criteria of the concept i've chosen and i'm planning to utilize this video method various times in the sketch. One disadvantage of utilizing videos is the file size for the sketch will dramatically increase however it may be possible to compress these videos to reduce file size.
I plan to initially begin the sketch with a heavily distorted background however with every padlock unlocked the background image gets less and less distorted. This would overall make my display more visually attractive as-well as serve as another visual indicator to show the user that they are progressing in the puzzle.
In a previous post I stated how my sketch was coded so that the background images changes as the user decrypts the puzzle. Due to me wanting to implement a dynamic background I decided to change the padlocks into individual PNG images instead of a JPG consisting of a row of padlocks. Changing the padlocks into PNGs enables them to become transparent therefore enabling separate images to fill the majority of the screen. The sketch has pretty much the same functionality as it did before however I haven't decided what my final background image should be.
Implementing PNG images into my sketch enables the PNG images to distort the background image. The PNG images can serve as a facade for the encrypted data therefore utilizing a steganography form of encryption.
